A former member of Egypt's parliament was arrested Wednesday as he allegedly paid to obtain 2,000 ballots for the forthcoming parliamentary elections in order to fill them in with his own name, police sources said.

Mohammed Bedira, former secretary of the National Democratic Party in the northern town of Moharam Bec, allegedly paid a voting registration employee in the northern city of Alexandria for the ballots, the sources said.

Bedira, who had been left off the NDP's voting lists, had decided to run as an independent in elections scheduled for October and November -- CAIRO (AFP)